Current News – and a Small Gripe

Okay, so I’ve got a lot of stuff on my mind lately about what needs to happen to the Talon in the coming months. I have a ton of stuff going on around me (in my life) but I’m trying to stay focused on the car right now. The big pieces are getting knocked out, and it’s only a matter of time before Mark and I start working on smaller and smaller things. Hopefully we’ll be able to get to a point where we’re like “okay, what’s next?” and the answer is “take it to the track” :-)

So, what are the bigest pieces left to do on the car? Well, the oil pan, wastegate mounting, transmission tunnel, mounting the front bumper, wiring and installing gauges. There are some small things left including: a couple cage bars here and there to finish that up, some tin work, many many small brackets, and small things like inside door handles. Between using the bathroom, and refilling the three gallon fuel cell, I will eventually have to get out of the Talon, even if I don’t want to :-p

And this is the part of the post where I digress heavily: I am so happy with this project, but if I had to do it all over again, it would be different. The car doesn’t really fit into any classes, and it’s being designed as an 8.50 car, really. It’s not 25.5 SFI spec, and it was never intended to be. The crappy part about that is that I’d get my ass handed to me in most of the pro classes, and all the rules of “mortal” classes really suck, requiring full interior, or not allowing RWD conversions, because “normal” people just don’t do that to imports (yet :-)) So, at the end of the day, this car that’s supposed to “only” run 8.50’s really doesn’t fit into any class. I know, we’ve got a long way to go before we lay down some 8.50’s, but I still don’t want to go further than that in this chassis. Hrmph. I’m sure I’ll ramble more about it later.

In any case, the Exhaust was finish welded last night, and now it’s time to weld up the Intercooler.